AWIC Workshop

Meeting the Information Requirements of the Animal Welfare Act

The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) teaches a one and a half day workshop at the National Agricultural Library (NAL) in Beltsville, Maryland for individuals who are responsible for providing information to meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The workshop runs from 8am to 5pm on Day 1 and 8am to 1:30pm on Day 2.
Upcoming Dates

The regulations of the AWA require that investigators provide Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) with documentation demonstrating that alternatives to procedures that may cause more than momentary pain or distress to the animals have been considered and that activities do not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments. A thorough literature search regarding alternatives meets this Federal mandate. An alternative is any procedure which results in the reduction in the numbers of animals used, refinement of techniques, or replacement of animals.

The objectives of the workshop are to provide:

An overview of the AWA and its information requirements;

A review of the alternatives concept;

A comprehensive introduction to NAL, AWIC and other organizations;

Instruction on the use of existing information databases/networks; and

On-line database searching experience.

This workshop is targeted for principal investigators, members of IACUCs, information providers, administrators of animal use programs, and veterinarians. All participants will receive a resource manual. Each workshop is limited to 20 participants.